Wednesday, September 8, 2010

YOU DID IT! WE MADE IT $10,000!!

Hello Friends,

It is with great joy that I write to tell you we have reached our goal…a day early! We have officially raised over $10,000 for Erika and her family in the seven days since the fire.

The words Thank You seem really insufficient here, but I don’t know what else to say. You are the most wonderful group of people – and you have the most generous family and friends who helped us, dollar by dollar, to cross the finish line.

There is no doubt that Erika, Tom and Tim have a long road ahead of them, but I know that the support from the blogging community has helped them – not just monetarily, but also emotionally. Try to imagine if you lost everything in a fire, and hundreds, maybe thousands of people you had never met banded together and came to your aid. $10,000 along with hundreds of e-mails and comments – all with the same message: We are here for you! What an outpouring of love and support. As I said in my last post, we can no longer call each other strangers.

I don’t know about you all, but I am bursting with pride. And my heart is warmed by the events of this past week. I hope a lot of you are coming to Blogher Food in a few weeks. We hope to meet you. And give you a hug and thank you in person for your support.

Maggy and Alice ~ both of you are to be commended for your swift action in setting up this site, keeping us all posted and initially getting the word out about Erika and her family's loss. I am so very proud and humbled to be a part of such a caring, responsive and self-less community. To raise over $10,000 in less than a week for a fellow blogger is while not surprising, it is outstanding. Erika is blessed to have you two as close friends and we are all a little bit more fortunate this past week for having been witness to and a part of this outreach to her. Thank you so much for the opportunity.

The kindness and generosity of strangers does warm the heart particularly in the environment we live in today when we too often only hear the tales of greed and malice.

This experience has profoundly moved me. During the middle of the campaign for Erika, Colorado had an end of summer wildfire. It's too often a yearly hazard we see as the result of our dry environment but this time, it struck close to home, in the foothills outside of Boulder.

While nowhere near the largest fire, consuming thus far 6800 acres, it has already become the most destructive fire in CO history due to a higher density of population so close to Denver and thus far has consumed 135 homes.

I hope that everyone will pray for those families with equal fervor. For me, the struggle those families face is all the more real; the urge to help all the more personal.

I think the timimg of this wonderful news is just perfect. Considering tomorrow is 9/11 - we have had folks from all over, all different walks of life, each having different beliefs, all pulling together to do help folks in need.Love, love, love it!

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What is "Friends of Ivory Hut"?

Friends of Ivory Hut is a community of food bloggers, photographers, and their respective communities who stand united in helping one of our own. On September 1, 2010, Erika Pineda (aka Ivory Hut) and her family barely escaped a devastating fire with only the clothes on their backs.

We are raising financial support to help her during this difficult time.